Comment by mullingitover

> What political capital that remained was spent.

Arguably the political capital was just incompetently set on fire.

I imagine a Reagan, or a Kennedy, or a Roosevelt in that situation, and for anyone with a good instinct for leadership it just becomes a shooting-fish-in-a-barrel setup for becoming an absolute legend. The populace was dying of thirst for leadership and unity, and they were given huge blocks of salt and turned on each other. The last time a leader was set up for such an easy approval ratings layup it was Bush post 9/11.

It's wild that the 2020 election wasn't a complete 1984-scale rout for the republicans. It should've been if they'd had an ounce of gravitas or the ability to lead.